


Reciprocals

by bagheerita



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Alien Biology, Alien Cultural Differences, Bioelectricity, Come Swallowing, Consent, Erotic Electrostimulation, Established Relationship, Hand Jobs, I only mention the swallowing because they have a conversation about it, Identity Swap, Light Dom/sub, M/M, Oral Sex, Porn With Plot, Senses, Talking, Xenophilia, but the plot doesn't matter, the body swapping itself is kind of dubcon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-03
Updated: 2020-10-03
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:40:51
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,458
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26784559
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bagheerita/pseuds/bagheerita
Summary: While testing Ancient artifacts discovered in Atlantis, John triggers a device that switches his consciousness with Todd’s, leading to them discovering new things about each other and taking advantage of the chance to experience intimacy from the other’s point of view.
Relationships: John Sheppard/Todd the Wraith
Comments: 17
Kudos: 60
Collections: Oh for the love of Todd!





	Reciprocals

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Mavet](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mavet/gifts).
  * In response to a prompt by [Mavet](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mavet/pseuds/Mavet) in the [Todd_fanworks_challenge](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/Todd_fanworks_challenge) collection. 



> _**Prompt:**  
>  John and Todd are in an established relationship when the Atlantis team comes across a piece of Ancient technology that allows two people to temporarily swap bodies. They bring the device back to Atlantis (or maybe it's already in the city) and John and Todd decide they'd like to experiment with it in private so they can each experience the other from the opposite perspective.  
> How do they each initially react to residing in a human/Wraith body? How does Todd cope with the lack of telepathy? How does John cope *with* telepathy? Does John experience Todd's hunger? Does Todd experience a *lack* of hunger? Does John enjoy having Wraith strength? Does Todd feel comparatively fragile?  
> I'd especially like some focus on sensory interpretation - how do Wraith and human senses differ and how does John deal with experiencing the world through the senses of a Wraith? Does Todd feel comparatively deprived of sensory input from within a human body? How do they experience each other? **What's the sex like?**  
>  After they're back in their own bodies, how do they reflect on the experience? What things did they each enjoy about the other? What things did they not enjoy? Did anything especially turn them on or make them uncomfortable?  
> I chose "Not Rated" to allow the author to use their own discretion, though personally, the steamier and smuttier the better. 😏  
> Would love a supersized helping of alien biology and speculative xenobiology on this one! Go nuts and explore weird alien/bug biology things!  
> Please also make sure that this is something they are both interested in, and that one of them is not pressuring the other into it.  
> Things I Don't Want: crackfic; non-con/rape; character death; underage; crossovers._
> 
>   * So I had an idea... and then I threw in some weird stuff, too? Also, it's pretty much all sex, so I hope that's what you wanted. XD
>   * ("body swap" isn't a tag so I selected "Identity swap" and I hope that's the same thing??)
>   * With thanks to Eos for her awesome beta skills!!
> 


"You found this in Janus' lab?" John repeats, frowning at the device.

"Don't worry, it's not going to blow up the Stargate or anything." Rodney rolls his eyes, but then looks away and fiddles with his laptop. "Probably." He clears his throat.

John rolls his eyes. "Great. Well, here goes nothing."

* * *

Everything explodes.

* * *

John comes to lying flat on his back. He feels like he's in the middle of the mess or something, because he can hear voices all around him- conversations just soft enough that he can’t quite make sense of them. He was in Rodney’s lab, so the voices are probably people responding to the explosion, but no one’s poking him yet so he’s guessing it’s not Keller or anyone from medical.

He opens his eyes and the world is an intense swirl of too bright light and washed-out color that coalesces into sharp lines. He tries to stand up, but his body is strange, too large, too heavy, and not responding to him properly. His head feels like it’s still exploding, and he groans, but what he hears is Todd growling.

John manages to get himself sat upright, but he closes his eyes. “Todd?” he asks, but his voice sounds weird as fuck. Did he inhale a bunch of smoke? What is Todd even doing in Rodney's lab? "Rodney?" John tries, and he almost bites his tongue. Have his teeth always been this sharp or is his coordination still off from the explosion? He lifts his right hand from the floor and reaches to touch his mouth.

He's starting to recover a bit from… whatever happened, and he has a suspicion, but it still hits him weirdly when his hand is not his hand. It's Todd's hand; or, it’s a Wraith’s hand. He flexes his fingers open and he's looking at the strange pulsing maw of the feeding organ, the handmouth open and the flesh quivering, and John is suddenly so fucking _hungry_. He shudders, curling forward where he’s sitting, opening his mouth and panting a little, lightheaded with the realization of his desire and feeling like he should be nauseous at the thought.

 _How is this happening_? he wonders. What he’d thought a moment ago was Todd is in fact _him_ , so… He’s a Wraith? He’s also pretty familiar with the shape of Todd’s hands and he wants to say that… he _is_ Todd? But he’s already lightheaded and he thinks he might pass out from thinking about that too hard. He wonders, _is Todd okay_? He’s felt Todd brush up against his mind before, and he reaches in, to that place where he’s previously felt Todd’s presence. He realizes it’s the same place where he’s hearing the voices- the voices that had made him think there were other people in the room. But the voices are just noise, he can't distinguish one from the other. And under that noise is another thrum, that buzzes almost like electricity. He can't find a thing in all that chaos that says _Todd_ to him, but also he _is_ Todd, so maybe he's looking for the wrong thing, and his head hurts more.

 _What_ the _hell_ happened? He's blinking at the room around him and his environment starts to solidify out of the too sharp lines that compose it. He can see that he's in his and Todd's room, not Rodney's lab. So… he's a Wraith and he's also a teleporter.

He realizes, too slowly, that the solution is that his body hasn’t been transformed into a Wraith, somehow he is literally _in_ Todd, and that he is where Todd is- _was_ ; that's why he's in their room, wearing Todd’s coat. One mystery solved.

The other mystery will have to wait, because the door opens and suddenly the most amazing smell John can imagine is wafting into the room. God, it smells like flying _feels_ , and he growls, half falling as he tries to push himself to his feet and tangles himself in the length of his coat to end up back on his ass.

"Sheppard," a voice says, and John looks up as a familiar someone comes and sits facing him.

It's the face he sees in the mirror every day, but also, _God_ he looks strange. His face is a sharp collection of angles, and, fuck, are his ears really that pointy? His hair, which he's used to thinking of as uniformly "brown," is a collection of different shades, sable, rippling with a vibrant undertone of mahogany. His eyes are focused on him, and they look concerned.

He scrunches up his nose, and suddenly he's hit with an overwhelming barrage of information. He has no idea he _smelled_ so strongly, the sharp tang of gun oil, the muffin he ate for breakfast. He can smell Rodney is standing in the room as well- coffee, the kind of metallic rubber smell of electrical wires, and anxiety. And there’s the smell of _Atlantis_ all around them- or what he assumes is the city, that smells like the taste of old metal and a sort of combination of antiseptic and dust. Which is weird because the city never looks dusty but he can _smell_ it. And a thousand other scents he's not sure he can name or even how he's aware of. He can smell the sharp salty scent of his human sweat, and something like muscle memory relaxes in him, pleased that he is there. "Yeah," he says, not sure if he's answering a question or just affirming his existence.

John watches his familiar body reach out and wrap a hand around his wrist as if to establish a connection between them, which John appreciates as the world feels distinctly off-kilter. If he's _here_ , he feels like it makes sense to ask, "Todd?"

His body's head nods, and Todd says, "Yes, Sheppard." He levels his gaze in a way it really shouldn't be possible to do while not in his imposing Wraith body, and asks in a tone that’s both demanding and perhaps a little panic-stricken, "What were you doing?"

John looks at Rodney, who’s standing a few steps farther back and looking somewhat poleaxed. His friend also looks decidedly _strange_ to him, his usual ruddy complexion fading into the sharp white lines that seem to make up everything John can see, and a strange thrumming energy is humming around him. "This is definitely _not_ anything that I predicted could happen," Rodney says, sounding both curious and appalled. John can _smell_ his interest in the problem, his obsession with how he can fix it.

It's too much, and John closes his eyes and turns away, putting his hand over his face like that will shut out the sensory input. His- well, _Todd's_ \- skin feels strange under his altered fingertips, and he remembers the sensory pits when he touches one with his finger, and shocks himself in the process.

He pulls his hand away and hisses, so vehemently Rodney, who'd been leaning closer in concern, backpedals hard. “Are you okay? Should I call Jennifer?”

Todd grabs John’s wrist and tells Rodney, “I do not think Doctor Keller will be able to assist in this situation, as the problem is not medical.”

John glares at both of them and pulls his wrist out of Todd’s grip, finding himself quite suddenly on the opposite side of the usual physical power imbalance with his lover when he pulls free easily and ends up staring at his hand dumbly. His confusion isn't helped by the fact that he can feel the lower thrumming he’d noticed earlier _moving over his skin_?

"Sheppard," Todd growls, the word a pale imitation of how it usually makes John’s toes curl.

"That's not as impressive as it normally is," John observes, and maybe it's really starting to sink in that he really fucked something up because he might be getting hysterical. "Shit, Rodney, how did this happen? How do you fix it?"

Rodney spreads his fingers in a vague approximation of _no idea_ , and observes, "There was that writing on the device, a subclause or something about 'understanding the enemy'? Maybe I read it backwards, and that was the main clause..."

" _Fix it_ ," John hisses.

Rodney looks hurt, but nods. "I'll get right on that." He looks at Todd, then turns to look at John as well. “You’re sure you don’t want Jennifer to send someone?”

“No,” John denies immediately. He sighs, not sure if he can explain that he’s worried that more people, and in particular electrical equipment, might cause a larger problem. “I’m just… adjusting. To the way everything looks… weird. Todd is the one who can help with that.”

Rodney nods and leaves, already yelling at someone on his communicator.

Todd sighs. He reaches for John again. John doesn't shake him off this time but flinches himself when what must be some sort of static charge discharges with an audible shock. Todd frowns but seems more interested in touching John than in admitting that it probably hurt.

"I just shocked myself in the face,” John observes, and scowls as he holds up his free hand. He can see a charge jumping between his fingertips. “Do you _generate electricity_?” he says, too loudly. “How do I not know about this?”

Todd sighs again. “Sheppard, calm yourself.” He sounds more put upon than usual. “In your mind there should be a place where you sense the field, and you can control its intensity.”

John takes a deep breath. This situation can’t be easy for Todd either. “Okay, yeah. It’s like a thrumming? Under the voices.”

“Yes,” Todd says, and he sounds wistful. “The field helps us to sense objects and feel our way in darkness.”

John scoffs. Things around him hum and thrum in a rhythm he can’t interpret yet, but by far the strongest register on his senses has been the presence of humans- Rodney, and his own body with Todd inside it. “You mean for hunting,” he grunts as he tries to focus on the sense of Todd sitting in front of him, hoping it will ground him.

“Mmm,” is Todd’s only response. He shivers again, and John, paying attention, can hear his racing heartbeat, feel the apprehension rippling over his skin in raised hair follicles, smell the sourness of his unhappiness.

John turns toward him. “Hey.” He takes a deep breath, and he feels like, as he’s less disoriented himself, his control over the field expands so that it drops down to a low hum, no longer rippling over his skin and shocking himself and others. “It’s going to be okay.” He reaches for Todd, pulling his unresisting body against John’s and holding Todd against him.

Todd raises his hands between them to hold John’s face, resting their foreheads together. He lifts his right hand and looks at his unbroken palm before resting it back against John’s too-smooth skin, tracing the lines of the tattoo marked there. “Strange,” he murmurs. “How do you live with such silence?” He touches his forehead to John’s again, as if he can join their minds if he just pushes a bit more.

“Sorry,” John says. “I know you can do a thing where you connect yourself to my head, but all the voices just sound like mumbling to me.”

Todd shakes his head and smirks, though his expression quickly grows more serious. “It is antithetical to be alone in my own head, but it is not something entirely new to my experience. I will be well. It is better that you do not attempt to wield a power that you do not entirely understand. You could easily harm this body.” He frowns. “I do not know if it would hurt me or harm your ability to return to this mind, but if you tried to force something between us it would certainly damage the link we have forged. A Wraith’s telepathy is naturalborn, but to wield it well is a talent developed, and I am not certain how it will… translate, for you.” He looks into John’s eyes. “I feel a powerful affection when I look on this face that I do not think is born entirely of my appreciation for myself.” He cups John’s chin. “If you as well feel that the body retains some memory of my will, then it should not cause harm to allow it to act when that action comes without force.”

John nods. He tries to relax and let his mind reach out for Todd’s, but he gets rather immediately distracted by his hunger, and by the fact that Todd smells delicious. He flexes his right hand. “I’m hungry,” he mutters. “Is it always like this?”

Todd looks surprised. “Unless the transference used our own energy stores, you should not need to feed for some time yet.” He frowns in concentration for a moment. “How quickly will your body require sustenance?”

“Um,” John wracks his brain. “I had breakfast with Rodney before we went to check out the stuff in his lab, and it was only the third artifact we were playing with that exploded, so I should be good for a few hours yet.”

Todd nods. "While odd happenings seem to occur with frequency in this city of yours, I cannot say this particular outcome was something I anticipated." He sighs. “Give me your hand.” John doesn’t immediately comply, and Todd rolls his eyes. “Sheppard, I wish to show you a trick that will help you manage the feeling of the hunger.”

Abashed and defensive, John protests, “It’s not you, I’m not sure what _I’m_ doing, and I don’t want to-” He gestures with his right hand before holding it out to Todd, though he holds it closed. “Accidentally eat myself.”

Todd takes his hand and because he’s kind of a shit he holds it up to his face, brushing his lips over the back of John’s fingers.

John gasps softly. He shaved this morning, but he can feel the tiniest growth of hairs against the skin of his fingers and the soft pressure of lips, the warmth of exhaled breath. Something in him aches, but Todd smirks at him and spreads open John’s right hand. John is too taken off guard to protest and Todd exposes the feeding organ.

John had been slightly worried that, exposed, the organ would overcome his impulse control and latch on to the nearest food source, but it only tingles slightly. It feels weird as all shit, and Todd doesn’t help when he gently runs his fingers along John’s palm, to either side of the opening. John hisses and tries to repress a moan, his fingers twitching reflexively.

Todd grins. “Perhaps you see some of what you do to me,” he murmurs. “Now, here,” he gestures to the bottom of John’s palm, and reaches himself to press his fingers into the soft flesh between the bottom of the feeding organ and the swell of the base of the thumb.

Nothing happens, and Todd frowns. “Perhaps,” he mutters, then says, “Stay in this position and I will turn around.” He turns, so that he’s sitting in John’s lap with his back to John’s chest, and reaches out to cup both his hands around John’s right. He traces his human fingers over the spot in question, then holds out his left hand, demanding, “Give me your hand.”

Utterly distracted by the way Todd _smells_ , John complies, amused. He rests his face against the top of Todd’s head, in a strange reversal, and isn’t really watching as he feels Todd manipulating his fingers, until there’s a sudden stab of pain in his right hand followed by a sudden easing of his feeling of hunger.

“What did you do?” John asks excitedly.

Todd gestures to the space in the palm of John’s right hand where it looks like he stabbed the clawed finger of John’s left hand, the wound already healing. “A wound here will trigger the release of a hormone that makes the body believe it has just fed. There are many theories as to why this has developed,” he offers, “though at the moment _I_ am more curious as to what distracted you?” He leans back, fitting his back against John’s chest, his head leaning back on John’s shoulder.

John’s not used to being the big spoon in this relationship. He raises his left hand and presses it to Todd’s chest, holding him back against John’s broader body. “You smell fucking _fantastic_. Do I always smell like this? Or is this just because I’m not used to actually smelling things?”

Todd chuckles; John can feel it against his hand pressed to Todd’s chest, and he’s overcome with a sudden _want_ to feel Todd everywhere, to touch everything. “You do usually smell quite pleasant,” Todd says with a grin. “Though I’m not sure how our current situation may have changed your body’s scent, or your ability to comprehend what my senses may reveal to you.” He sobers again. “What you are likely smelling is the mingling of our scents that denotes that I have chosen you as someone who is of particular importance to me.” He rests his hand on top of where John’s rests on his chest. “Other Wraith should not find the scent quite so pleasant, as it serves also as a warning that the individual in question is claimed.”

John inhales. “How important is ‘particularly’?” he asks. Todd looks away. John can smell his discomfort, among other things, at being revealed as so invested when they’re still pretty early in their relationship, and he kisses Todd’s neck. Todd arches into the touch, and John kisses him again, on the side of his throat, stubble rough against his own smooth jaw and dragging against the tuft at his chin. “Because I’d say you’re ‘particularly’ important to me, too.”

Todd is breathing fast, his head thrown back against John’s shoulder and his eyes glazed. “You are so sensitive, _everywhere_ ,” he observes breathlessly. He reaches for John, pulling him closer, and holding John’s hand forcefully where it rests on his chest. “It is not the same as the way I usually feel you, but…” His left hand is tangled insistently in John’s hair and he pulls John to him so that they are breathing the same air. John can smell the arousal rising off the body in his arms. He holds Todd pinned back against his shoulder with his left arm and reaches down to cup Todd’s groin with his right hand. Todd gasps, both hands tightening their grip as he bucks his hips up into the touch. “Sheppard,” he pants. “Is this why you are always so _demanding_?”

John kisses his neck again, chuckling. “Maybe part of it.” He moves down from the neck along the line of the collarbone and bares his teeth, nibbling lightly at the trapezius muscle, testing over clothing how much pressure he can apply on human skin with his new pointed teeth. Todd moans in his arms.

John’s not sure if it’s the strangeness of their circumstance, or Todd’s inability to cope as of yet with his newly human nerve endings, but he looks like he’s on the verge of coming- John can taste it, heady, on the air. John knows that _he’d_ be well into that being okay if he was the one being held by Todd, but without the usual telepathic connection between them he’s not sure if Todd’s really okay with it, and he backs off, releasing Todd from his hold. “Todd?” he asks.

Todd looks up at him in dazed pleasure but seems to grasp the question fairly quickly. “Yes,” he says. He reaches up to cup his left hand against John’s cheek. “Yes, I welcome you. Before, I have seen the thoughts you have shared when we are intimate, and known that you found pleasure in surrendering to the strength of my body, but I… I did not understand that your body’s drives are so powerful.” He shivers. “It is like a hunger.”

John hums. He has noticed that, while he’s aroused, he’s not currently as hot for it as he usually is when his partner is this far gone. He’s into it, but there is less pressure from his body to seek immediate climax. “I suppose there’s a reason we humans tend to call it a hunger sometimes.” He’d wondered that Todd often seems less affected than him when they’re fooling around, but had just chalked it up to Todd being older and experienced. Turns out he should have noticed it was also a biological difference between their species. “Is it okay? I know it’s weird, the situation, I don’t… I don’t want it to be weird between us when we fix this.”

With his hand on John’s cheek, Todd guides John down to look at him. “It is a question that deserves much thought. I am not certain I am clear-headed enough to _fully_ consider the ramifications, but I do not foresee any difficulty. On the contrary, I welcome this opportunity to experience the world as you do, Sheppard. And, I will confess, my mind is so empty that I welcome also anything which brings you further into my ability to experience.” He shivers.

“Alright, let me know if you change your mind.”

Todd chuckles. “Sheppard you have never refrained from sharing your opinions with me, do not think I will refrain from giving you any chance to experience the same.”

John chuckles himself and mentally checks to see if the door is locked, as he’d gotten into the habit of doing, before he goes back to nibbling on Todd’s neck. He’s briefly nonplussed when Atlantis doesn’t acknowledge him. “Huh.”

Todd turns his head to look at John through slitted eyes. “You are distracted,” he observes. He reseats himself more firmly against John’s groin and is stymied when it doesn’t have the response he’s looking for.

“Atlantis isn’t letting me check to make sure the door is locked.” John frowns and looks at Todd curiously. “Can you…”

Todd leans back in surprise. “Ahh.” He stares vacantly, and John suspects he’s reaching in and seeing how the ATA gene feels. The door makes the distinctive sound of _unlocking_. John groans, and almost misses the sound as it locks again. “It was locked shut already,” Todd confirms. “Doctor McKay must have anticipated your desire for privacy.”

“ _My_ desire?” John nibbles his way down toward Todd’s collarbone.

“It is mutual,” Todd says, amused. His eyes flash with intrigue. “It is convenient that the city is controlled mentally in this way, when you are physically rather busy.” He squirms in John’s lap again.

John pins Todd’s shoulders back against John’s chest, with his right arm this time as Todd arches against his touch. Todd is alert and focused on John’s movements, his mouth open, almost panting in anticipation. John lets his left hand trail down Todd’s stomach, pushing his shirt up out of the way to spread his fingers against Todd’s flesh. John knows what his body will respond to, and he runs the clawed fingernails lightly over skin.

Todd writhes against him, moaning, “ _Sheppard_.” His skin twitches against the tickling attack and he bucks against John’s hold.

John discovers that he has to actually pay attention or else Todd will break free of his grip. It’s kind of a comfort, that the physical disparity between them isn’t so entirely mismatched. He trails his hand lower to again cup the hard bulge in Todd’s BDUs.

Todd moans, “ _John_ ,” the word whispering desperately over John’s cheek. His hand releases the grip it had on John’s arm pressed across his chest and reaches down to help John open his BDU’s; he fumbles the button free before getting distracted and it's John who pulls down the zipper.

They draw out the length of Todd’s cock together, and John finds it sits comfortably enveloped in his larger hand. He can feel Todd trembling from the stimulation on the sensitive flesh, and he marvels at how soft the skin is against the strangeness of his hand, the way he can see the heated flow of blood pulsing and filling the stiffening flesh. If there’s something that should feel familiar it’s his cock in the palm of his hand, but it’s not really his hand. Right now it’s not his cock, but he still knows how to make it feel good. He’s sitting against the bed and he disengages for the moment to reach with his left hand for the drawer in the bedside table. “These long arms are good for something,” he mutters against the curve of Todd’s ear, and Todd chuckles before John thumbs a nipple with his right hand, distracting him.

“Sheppard!” Todd demands. He lifts one hand to his own chest experimentally. “I remember this,” Todd mutters, “and driving you wild with it.” He sounds like he’s not entirely sure he wants to know what that would be like.

John chuckles and, left hand smeared with lube, closes his fingers around the hard length of Todd’s cock. “It feels so good,” John murmurs. “But you might not like it.” He knows he has a bit more of a sensory kink than most people, and he’d rather get Todd off than push him too far. 

Todd thrusts into his grip with a desperate moan. John can’t help but tease him a little, and he holds his hand farther and farther out so that Todd has to thrust farther forward, hips still mostly trapped in his BDU’s and shoulders and body pinned back against John’s chest. The red length of his cock juts into the air, dripping and eager, and John rubs his thumb over the head as Todd moans.

“Look at you,” John murmurs, kissing Todd’s neck and, remembering the time Todd had done it to him, biting the back of his neck lightly. Todd shudders, hips jerking. He reaches down with his own hand, but John seizes it with his left hand and transfers it to the grip of his right hand. “Let me pull that climax out of you,” he hisses.

Todd bares his teeth, panting, “ _John_ , please. How do you stand it… I _need_...”

John grins and closes his fingers slightly, tightening around the flesh of Todd’s cock, and giving a little extra pressure at the base of the head, so that Todd is coming, thrusting against him before sagging back and moaning in relief and completion. “Sheppard,” he murmurs, and John can only bury his face in the warm curve of Todd’s neck and drink in the feel of him. There are a million sensations and scents available to him that are a language which John can’t read, though he knows that in general they mean that the one he loves is well and content, and that’s mostly all he needs to know.

They sit for a while, John just holding Todd and letting his own arousal simmer in the background of his thoughts, until Todd moves uncomfortably. “I understand better some of your complaints,” he mutters as he moves and dried come, matted with groin hair, pulls at sensitive skin.

John laughs, the sound echoing around the room. He holds Todd steady as his lover stands up, discarding dirty clothing rather than put it back on, and pulling his shirt off over his head as well.

“How did you get here, anyway?” John asks. “I don’t think I’ve even stood up successfully yet.”

Todd sighs. “I was somewhat brusque with Doctor McKay, and by leaning on him was able to quicken what would have otherwise been an unsatisfactorily slow pace as I returned to you.” He touches John’s face. “When I realized what had happened, I anticipated that you would have more difficulty acclimating to Wraith senses.”

John nods. Todd steps away, and for the third time, John attempts to stand up.

Knowing why he feels weird helps, and he doesn’t try to make his body match his expectations, so he’s able to not fall over this time. He knows Todd isn’t that much taller than him, but he feels extraordinarily tall. He takes a few experimental steps and then follows Todd as he goes to the bathroom.

Todd is leaning over the sink, getting a washcloth wet before wiping it over his groin and thighs. John pauses for a moment and looks at himself. He’s never been a gym rat but he’s pretty proud of his body and how it looks. Looking at himself through Todd’s eyes he wonders what Todd even sees in him. He is nothing but pale, sharp angles over his shoulders and back, and even his ass, as Todd leans over the sink, looks flat.

Todd catches his eye in the mirror over the sink and looks back at him before turning to face him, and none of John’s doubts are reflected in his expression. John might be currently taller and stronger than Todd, but the look in Todd’s eyes says that he doesn’t give a shit about that. He steps forward to rest his hands on the coat that covers John’s chest. There is a strange contrast in John being still fully dressed and Todd being fully naked. “There is a thing I would like very much to explore,” Todd says. He looks up at John; the green is really prominent in his eyes, and John can see a highlight of gold flecking instead of what usually appears brown to him in the mirror.

John nods. He feels his own pulse quicken.

Todd grins. He pulls at the coat. “Disrobe and lie on the bed,” he commands.

John is kicking off his boots before he realizes he’s moved, any clumsiness he’d felt previously seeming to have resulted primarily from his conscious attempts to control what his unconscious seems quite capable of adapting to. Wraith fashion has less complexity in the area of closures and he drapes Todd’s coat over a chair and has Todd’s leather trousers unhooked and on the floor not long after. He takes a moment to look down at his body, running his left hand over his stomach. His skin is blotched and green and veiny; it’s not unpleasant, and he’s gotten used to seeing it, but it’s weird that it’s _his_ now. His thick cock has already been interested, from Todd in his lap earlier, and now that it’s out John reaches down to cup himself, rolling his balls over his fingers. Todd’s equipment is just as alien as his skin, though familiar enough to John by this point. His cock has a long, slightly tapering shape to the end of it rather than the more bulbous head of a human’s, and the skin of his scrotum is both less sensitive and less elastic than a human’s would be in that area, cooler body temperature and healing factor combining to make mobility of less importance when housing sperm. It feels weird, in that his human brain wants to predict that his balls are going to be super sensitive but the nerves are no more so than the rest of his new skin; his long green fingers might as well be touching his elbow for all that he’s getting back from it. That changes when he moves up to take his cock in hand, and John inhales and groans. If more of his skin is less sensitive, then some parts of it have a super intensive concentration of sensation, and this is one of them. John hums under his breath as he strokes the fingers of his left hand down the length of his cock.

Todd interrupts his solo pleasure with an impatient noise, and when John looks at him Todd gestures imperiously to the bed. Grinning, John joins him there.

Todd reaches for him immediately and kisses him. John quickly relaxes into the familiar task and though Todd kisses him deeply and thoroughly, John mostly concentrates on not being too impassioned in return as he’s not certain he has full awareness of how sharp his teeth are. Todd’s insistence is plenty enough to have John flat on his back on the bed in no time, and he doesn’t fight it. Todd seems to be taking particular pleasure in exploring how hard he can bite with his blunt teeth and he has John hissing and moaning in pleasure.

“Fuck,” John hisses, as Todd bites him rather too enthusiastically to John’s mind, right at the edge of his armpit as he makes his way over John’s chest, but _shit_ does it feel good. “I feel like I’m going to have bruises for days.”

Todd chuckles as he leans back to survey his handiwork. “It would be magnificent to see,” he agrees. “Though they are already healing.” He pokes John in the middle of one of the bruises and John hisses, but Todd is right and he barely feels it. “But I am allowing myself to get distracted,” Todd says. He’s sitting on top of John, and he moves back, trailing the occasional other bite down John’s chest and abdomen until he gets to the groin.

“Um, I’m not excited for you to be biting things down there,” John hedges as he leans up on his elbows, but Todd kisses him.

“There is a thing I would like to try, that you have done for me,” Todd murmurs, and John realizes what it must be.

“Oh! Um, yeah, _that_ ,” he shivers. “That would be really nice.”

Todd grins and he drops back to wrap his hand around John’s cock and focus his attention on it. John lays back and watches him.

His eyes half-lidded, Todd smirks up at John as he brings the cock to his lips and exhales over the tip.

John moans, his whole body shifting to attention, his hands gripping against the bed beneath him. _Shit_ , he’d thought that the tip of Todd’s cock was possibly even more sensitive than John’s own, but now in a position to have experienced both John would agree that it definitely _is_.

Todd hums approvingly, and sticks out his tongue, swiping it up the length of flesh he continues to hold steady with his right hand.

“Oh _fuck_ ,” John mutters, falling back, flat on his back again. He spreads his legs to give Todd more room, and closes his eyes, desperately seeking Todd’s thoughts.

Todd circles the tip with his tongue exploratively, before he fits it inside his mouth.

John hisses, the sound dissolving into a desperate moan, as he tries to keep from thrusting his hips up into the feeling of Todd going down on him. The wet heat of his mouth is _delicious_ , and John is reminded of the human tendency to equate sex and eating. He trusts Todd won’t get the two confused when he has teeth in sensitive places. But, more than that, John thinks, he would let Todd devour him, take his life, if it came to that. He trusts that Todd wouldn’t just kill him for no reason- that if it had to happen Todd would know and work to protect the things that John loved. That it would be a _good_ and necessary thing, as good as he feels, as good as Todd always makes him feel.

Todd pulls off his cock and looks up at John sharply. “John,” he says tenderly, and John realizes that the warmth he feels is coming from inside his thoughts- somehow, between them, he has found the link that joins their minds.

John’s a little embarrassed, but he can’t deny his thoughts. “It’s true,” he says. “I trust you. I mean, I’m letting you get your teeth around my-” And he doesn’t finish that thought because Todd is kissing him again.

“The feeling is mutual,” Todd says a few minutes later, and John has to blink himself back to awareness of the conversation they were having. “This… what has happened to us here is a thing that I would not be comfortable with if it had happened with someone else. I…” He shivers and leans against John. “I am alone, and… vulnerable, in ways that I am not used to. But I trust that you will not see this as an advantage.”

“Maybe you’ll get that me not wanting to wander around a hive ship without backup isn’t just about trusting _you_ ,” John mutters, but it’s an old argument that’s lost any bite, confirmed when Todd laughs.

“Perhaps.” Todd allows. His expression darkens. “My ability to control the hive comes from the power I have amassed, which is very much lost in this form. I would not wish to encounter strange Wraith like this.” He puts a hand to his temple as if seeking the Wraith he can’t currently feel.

“Hey.” John’s leaned up on his right arm, but he puts his left arm around Todd, holding him close, holding him steady. “Don’t think about that.” He tries to reach for the warmth inside him and wrap it in more warmth, pushing his presence at Todd. “Be here. With me. Any luck, Rodney’ll have figured out how to reverse it before we’re done exploring here and it’ll all be a bad memory.”

Todd chuckles. “All memories that involve you, Sheppard, are worth cherishing.”

John grins. “All?”

“All,” Todd repeats firmly. He’s sitting on the bed, between John’s legs, and he runs his hands up the outside of John’s thighs before pulling John’s support out from under him and dumping him on his back.

John laughs. “Alright, fine. Though I’ll admit I’m mostly enjoying this one.” Todd hums thoughtfully as he closes his hand around John’s cock, and John moans in anticipation.

Todd gives him an intent look and bends himself back down. John watches as Todd licks the tip again and slowly fits as much of the cock as he can in his mouth.

John groans. In some ways it’s stranger than any of the strange things he’s seen in the Pegasus galaxy to see his own face going down on himself. He can’t tell if it’s more or less weird that “himself” looks like his alien boyfriend and he just happens to be feeling the sensation of it happening. He knows how much of Todd’s cock he can fit in his own throat, and he moans as he sees Todd reach that limit, gag slightly, and back up a bit, his lips stretched around the thickness of it.

“Shit,” John pants. His hands are clenched around the edge of the mattress under him and he’s pretty sure he just tore it, trying too hard to not thrust up into that tight, wet heat. “Shit. How do you do this?” Todd’s usually so good about not thrusting until John has a good rhythm established, so as not to accidentally hurt him.

Todd pulls off and chuckles. “With a great deal of control.” He rubs his rough cheek on John’s thigh.

John jerks. “ _Shit_ ,” he hisses. “Oh, goddamn, that feels _weird_. Do it again.”

Todd chuckles and does it again on the other side. He urges John’s legs farther apart and settles down between them. He cups John’s testicles but doesn’t spend much time there; while less sensitive skin in this area seems advantageous when it comes to combative situations it is less so in intimate ones. Todd moves past that to John’s opening, pressing his thumb into the flesh around it.

John feels an immediate sense of relaxation and pleasure pulse through him. He’s aware of the gland that Wraith have near the anus that seems to exist for precisely this reason, but he’s never actually felt it before. He sighs in the back of his throat- though it comes out more like a low chittering that devolves into a continuous purr.

Todd chuckles.

John feels too good to be embarrassed. “Do it again,” he demands, and Todd obliges him.

Todd knows where to touch to elicit the greatest pleasure, and he hums with mischief in John’s mind, quite pleased with himself to bring pleasure to John. His fingers and mouth soon have John gasping little purring moans as he makes tiny abortive thrusts upward, Todd meeting him as he rises, his throat hot and tight.

John is so deep in his thoughts that he signals Todd that he’s about to come without fully being aware of sharing the information. Todd sinks deep, John gasping as he feels the sensitive length of his cock buried in the pulsing heat of Todd’s throat, and he comes, arching into the feeling, his hands scoring the mattress as he refuses to let go and let his hands turn the force of his climax against his more fragile partner, and he explodes in the feel of it- his own climax, Todd’s satisfied pleasure, and the echo of the intimacy of their shared thoughts.

It takes a while before John is aware of his body again. Todd is curled against him, humming softly, stroking John’s chest and the Wraith symbol tattooed there. John realizes he’s purring again. He turns toward Todd and wraps his long limbs around his lover’s slighter body, pulling him close and dozing in the warm satiation.

After a few minutes, John cracks an eye open. “You swallowed, didn’t you? You should take an antacid.”

Todd sighs. “I do not wish to move,” he replies, and tucks himself closer against John’s chest.

“It’s gonna give you heartburn like you have no idea,” John warns him. “Take the medicine. Or throw it up.” When Todd doesn’t move, John pokes him.

Todd glares at him but sighs and pulls himself up from the bed to stand and stretch, opening the drawer of the bedside table to look for the bottle of tablets John keeps stashed there.

John stands as well. He feels a lot more comfortable in this body and he wonders if it’s because he’s just gotten used to it, or if it’s been through the process of having sex that he’s settled into it. He always feels more alive in his skin after climaxing. He goes to the bathroom and gets a glass of water, passing it to Todd.

Todd frowns at it. “I am sorry. I do not wish to cause harm to your body, John.” He takes the water and sips from the glass to rinse his mouth before using the remaining water to dissolve the tablet.

John sighs. “It was really hot,” he admits. “And if it gives you heartburn, then hopefully you’ll be the one who has to deal with it. The joys of being human, with a Wraith boyfriend.”

Todd is looking at him. “And yet you do it for me, even though it hurts you.”

John flushes- which feels really weird. His sensory pits feel swollen. “Not all the time,” he protests. “But, um, sometimes it’s worth it, to make you feel good. And it’s really hot.”

Todd hums absently and drinks his foaming water, making a face at the taste. He pulls out a powerbar, tearing it open and biting off a corner inquiringly. Assuming they’re done talking about emotional shit, John turns back to watch him. He rolls toward Todd and reaches out to touch him, running his fingers over the hair on Todd’s thigh.

Todd gives a curious hum at the taste of the powerbar, like he can’t quite tell if he likes it or not. John chuckles softly and watches as Todd goes to the bathroom to get another glass of water.

Bored for the moment, John thinks about all the ways that Todd experiences the world differently from him. His vision is good for motion, and he seems to be seeing into the low ultraviolet but a lot of the colors and shades he’s used to with human eyes just don’t show up. His sense of smell is way more intense, though John has a hard time differentiating between “smell” and whatever you call the information obtained from the sensory pits. Hearing seems about the same, though he supposes he can “hear” the minds of other Wraith and that’s totally new. John closes his eyes and “listens” in on the humming; it still sounds like gibberish to him, like people talking in the next room and he can’t make out the words. He suddenly wonders if he doesn’t understand because he can’t speak Wraith? But they shouldn’t be talking mentally in a language, should they? Though language does affect how the brain organizes information, and he’s never really heard Wraith _speak_ Wraith, it’s mostly written. He wants to ask Todd how that works, when he’s distracted by the _other_ low thrumming in his mind.

Once he’d stopped being freaked out about it, the thrumming of the electrical charge had dropped back to the edge of his awareness and seemed to be holding steady at a low level. He holds up his fingers and concentrates on trying to cause a charge to form between them. After a moment, it happens- he sees the spark and he can feel the charge jump from finger to thumb. John grins. He focuses harder and he can generate an electrical charge at the end of each finger, though they dissipate as he brings his fingers together, the charges jumping to the opposite poles.

He looks up to see Todd regarding him from the door to the bathroom. “You seem amused,” he observes. “Do you know if Doctor McKay has made progress?”

John’s a little chagrined to admit that he hadn’t thought to ask. He rolls over and grabs his earpiece off the bedside table. “Rodney? How’s it going?”

“Well there’s good news and bad news,” Rodney says. “Which do you want first?”

John looks over at Todd. “The bad news,” he says resolutely.

“I can't figure out how to undo it,” Rodney says flatly.

John feels his stomach drop, and he’s pretty sure Todd can read his expression because he goes absolutely white. “And there’s _good_ news?” John hisses.

“The effect is temporary,” Rodney replies. “It doesn’t say how long it lasts, but it should, um, dissipate, and you’ll both return to normal.”

John inhales. “Okay. That’s good.” He tells Todd, “He says he can’t figure out how to fix it, but it’s temporary anyway, it should fix itself.” Turning back to Rodney, he asks, “No idea how long?”

“Bigger than a breadbox,” Rodney gripes. “How should I know? The report says that when they tested it the effect was temporary. The only further detail is that afterward the test subject suffered some traumatic effects from having been stuck in enemy territory longer than anticipated, but I figured that’s not really applicable in this case.”

John inhales. “So it picked Todd because he was the closest Wraith, not because we’re... you know.”

Rodney snorts. “If I knew how the stupid thing worked, we wouldn’t have been poking it this morning with these lovely results.”

Maybe he’s still riding his post-orgasm high, but John feels like Rodney’s really more irritated than the situation calls for. He recalls that he had been pretty short with Rodney earlier, and intuits that part of Rodney’s apprehension is from thinking John is still mad. “Hey, it’s okay. I said I would help you poke unexplained artifacts, well aware that they occasionally have weird side effects, though, yeah, this wasn’t _exactly_ something I was expecting.” He looks over at Todd, who nods. “And Todd’s okay with it, too. It’s temporary, which is the main thing, and we’re dealing with it.”

“Okay.” Rodney sounds a little brighter. “Okay. Though, um, don’t call me again until you fix yourselves, or I guess if there’s an emergency, but hearing your speech patterns in Todd’s voice is the _uncanniest_ thing. I can’t believe you’re both okay with this.”

John blinks and grins, flushing slightly as he thinks about how they’ve spent their time together since the occurrence. He clears his throat. “I’m just, um, trying to keep Todd’s mind off it. It’s really weird for him too, not being able to hear his hive.”

“Shit,” Rodney mutters, “That’s gotta suck. I wonder if they’re okay? Will they think he’s dead or something?”

Todd has come over to the bed and sits down next to where John’s sprawled on his stomach, hearing Rodney’s words. “They are far enough away that they will likely not notice anything amiss unless they attempt to contact me,” he says to John. “At that distance, hivebonds are thin. It is probable that they will not know that you are not me unless you do something extremely strange.”

“Todd says they’re probably fine,” John reports, “but if they call, give them the rundown and only contact us if you need to. Sheppard out.” He puts the earpiece back on the table and turns to Todd.

Todd is resting his hand on John’s back, tracing his fingers between the prominent spurs of bone in his spine. It feels really nice, but it’s less intense than John would expect from when he’s tried the same thing on Todd. Todd grins and leans forward, out of John’s sightline, and John makes that chittering purr sound again when Todd bites down on the bone spur at the base of his neck. Todd chuckles.

John whines, high in the back of his throat, and lies fully on his stomach, inviting Todd to continue.

Todd hums softly, moving so that he’s half straddling John’s ass, and he starts stroking along both sides of John’s spine, fingers just lightly moving over the skin. After a moment his full hands spread over the span of John’s back, stroking up his back and then back down.

John shivers. It almost feels like the sensation that results from brushing hair the wrong way, but more universal to his skin and more tingly. And it feels really good. Not even in a sexual way; it just makes him feel warm. _Happy_. John opens his mouth to ask Todd why he never mentioned this before, but all that comes out is the high chittering purr. He can feel Todd’s amusement, but it’s a little bittersweet as well.

Todd eventually stops and just lays down against John’s back, sighing softly as he lays pressed against him. John thinks a part of him would be content to stay like this forever; but it’s Todd that moves first, shifting restlessly.

John gets his arms under him and turns to look at Todd. “Come here,” he says, and as he turns his body under Todd so that he’s lying on his side, Todd shifts to lay on the bed beside him, curled against John’s front. John strokes fingers over Todd’s cheek; he knows why Todd never mentioned how _nice_ the backrub feels because technically he had- John had been the one to take it the next step and make it a sexual thing, biting at the bone spurs and pinching the nerves to achieve the sort of sensations that would drive Todd wild. Because he was a hot-blooded human to whom sex was a hunger.

“Let me see your arm,” John murmurs, and Todd holds out his left arm, a questioning look on his face. John holds up his own right hand, and test arcs a current between his thumb and forefinger again. He’s not actually sure how this is going to work, so he tests it on Todd’s finger. “How does that feel?”

“It is... strange. Not unpleasant.”

“Not like I shocked you before?”

Todd gets a stubborn look on his face and John feels something like the opposite of déjà vu having to see that look from this angle. “My desire to be close to you was more important than the inconvenience of a small pain.”

John scoffs. “Okay. But for this part, you have to let me know if you _like_ the way it feels. I, um, did this once in college- not this exactly, but… Anyway, I really liked it so, I dunno, you're working with the same nerve endings, it should feel good. But let me know if it doesn’t.”

“Of course.” Todd reaches to touch John’s face, guiding their eyes to each other. He has one leg thrown over John’s hips.

John reaches down and tests his shock fingers against Todd’s leg, just below his knee. Todd only raises his eyebrows. John grins, and he tries it again on the inside of Todd’s thigh.

Todd twitches, his fingers curling where his hand is resting against John’s face. “It is interesting,” he allows, though when John moves his hand to Todd’s groin Todd immediately cautions, “Sheppard, I believe your skin is too fragile in this area to-”

“Relax, this is a little different.” John hums in assurance and moves his hand so that his thumb rests just behind his balls and his forefinger on top of his cock near the base, so that the current passes between his fingers, and through Todd’s body.

“Ahh,” Todd observes in actual interest. He shifts, as if trying to move closer to the feeling, but he slips out of John’s grasp. “It is very… strange,” Todd murmurs.

“Strange good?” John questions.

Todd nods. “I feel as if your fingers are touching all of my skin. Far more than they could on their own.”

John tries again, his thumb at the base of Todd’s cock, his forefinger at the tip, and passes the current all along the length of that sensitive flesh.

Todd grunts and makes a sound that John recognizes as the closest his own throat can approximate the purring sound.

John chuckles softly. “Hey, I think he likes it.” He shifts his weight, pinning Todd’s right leg under John’s own weight, and running his charged fingers up and down the length of Todd’s left leg.

Todd twitches and writhes beneath him but doesn’t fight in earnest. He reaches to touch his leg, near where John is playing the current back and forth, but John whisks his hand away and hisses, causing Todd to flinch back.

“Sorry,” John apologizes. “This can be really dangerous. I mean, the way we usually do it on Earth. I’m not sure if this would work the same, but if the circuit passes through your heart, it could really fuck you up.”

Todd’s expression lightens as he understands. “The ability to control the field varies wildly between Wraith, so it is not a commonly relied upon means, but there are tales of times when it has been used to stun human prey. Your caution is not unfounded, Sheppard.”

John breathes in slowly and lowers his head to touch his forehead to Todd’s. The move feels instinctual, and Todd lifts his hands to cup John’s face. “Do you want to stop?”

Todd shakes his head. “I very much wish for you to continue touching me,” he murmurs. “But if you fear for my heart then I will not touch.” He grins.

John glares at him, but he’s amused too. “It might help you remember if you hold on to something else.” He’s leaning on his left side, but his hand is brushing Todd’s arm and he offers, “Um, or I could hold you down?”

He sees the emotion play over Todd’s face as he considers the offer. Previously, John has been pretty consistently into the fact that Todd can hold him down without too much effort. And he knows the potential issue here is more than Todd not usually being the fragile one; among Wraith weakness is something that is usually exploited. “You entrust yourself to me in this way every time we do this,” Todd says softly.

John shakes his head, feeling the strange way his hair shifts across his shoulders as his head moves. “Don’t. You don’t owe it to me, and it’s not the same.” Todd looks at him questioningly, and John elaborates, “You know what you’re doing with _this_.” He gestures to his current body. “Not just because it’s yours but because you’ve been carting it around for a couple thousand years. You don’t have to trust _me_ with it. You don’t _have_ to trust yourself to me just because this happened like this.”

“I do trust you,” Todd says softly, looking up at John intently. “I marvel at your own level of trust, John. I don’t compare it to a lack of reciprocity on my part.”

John flushes and looks away. His face feels swollen. He clears his throat, which results in a strange humming sound.

Todd chuckles, his leg, hooked over John’s, tightening over John’s hip in a parody of a hug. He shifts his left arm under his body so that he can reach under and grasp his opposite elbow, which brings his hand within reach of John’s left hand. “When you are ready,” he says, “please continue.” He lays back and there’s an entirely human hunger in his eyes.

John pins Todd’s right arm under his own left hand and grasps Todd’s left wrist, preventing his hands from reaching to interfere. He swallows, and flexes his right hand, focusing on generating the current.

Todd arches against his hold, his body tense with anticipation. He’s already half hard from their messing around and John can taste his desire for climax building in him. Todd has adjusted to the human intensity of sensation and John can feel him savoring the fervent buildup of his bodily response.

John bends to focus his attention on his goal. He runs his fingers lightly over the skin of Todd’s cock, feeling the flesh twitch and jump and the way Todd twitches beneath him. “Sheppard,” he growls.

“‘Sheppard,’” John growls back mockingly, and Todd shivers and breaks out in gooseflesh. John chuckles. “You were saying something earlier about when the body responds?” He pinches the inside of Todd’s thigh and shocks him before he can reply. Which gets him a whine as a response, graduating to a full-throated moan as he settles his fingers on Todd’s cock, running current from the base to the tip.

Todd relaxes into the sensation, humming softly, his hips shifting up toward John’s hand. Or trying to, as John has him well pinned. His cock fills in response to the stimulation until he’s twitching with the urge for more, his leg over John’s hip trying to pull him closer. John can sense the way the blood rushes under Todd’s skin, the urgent desire for _more_ , more touching, more that will bring climax closer. It feels so… basic, so animalistic. But layered on top of it John can feel the soft hum of his name and Todd’s pointed desire for _him_ , not just for climax.

John “turns off” the electrical current, despite Todd’s annoyed grunt, and wraps his hand around that cock instead. He nibbles lightly on one of Todd’s pointed ears before pressing his face under Todd’s chin. Todd does it all the time to him and he sighs softly as he closes his eyes and just basks in the sensation of his lover, the scratch of his skin and the perfect scent of him. “You smell delicious.”

Todd grunts, quieting as John moves his hand, stroking his fingers up and down the length of his cock. John’s a little happy that being in Todd’s body gives him the ability to be more focused as he works to make his lover a little more desperate, but Todd ruins his feeling of superiority by demonstrating that he is still able to speak coherent sentences. “Your human nature colors your terminology even as you sense with Wraith senses,” he observes, shifting his weight and sighing as he leans into John’s touch. “Your scent is very pleasing, but I would not have compared it to food.”

John snorts. “Okay, someone has too many brain cells still connected.” Todd frowns at him in confusion, but John reaches back to circle his index finger around Todd’s entrance before slipping it in, able with the Wraith’s larger hand span to easily reach up and settle his thumb at the base of his cock and pass the electrical field between those points.

Todd jerks, his mouth opening as the current hits his prostate, and gives the loudest moan John’s ever heard him make. He continues twitching and moaning as John slowly increases the intensity of the current, until he gasps, “ _John_ ,” his hand spasming under John’s own.

John eases back on the current. He keeps it at a middling high level, but Todd sighs in pleasure. John can feel the combination of desire and exhilaration chasing through Todd’s thoughts, and the sharp disappointment when John halts.

John chuckles softly and leans in to kiss Todd, Todd rising to meet him eagerly, his kiss sloppy and biting.

“Sheppard,” Todd murmurs.

John bows his head to savor the sound of Todd’s voice. There are nuances to his words that John can _taste_ \- his pleasure, and his complete trust at placing himself in John’s hands. He can’t really be tasting it, but he’s not sure how else to describe the feeling. It feels just as wonderful as the delicious smell, though, mindful of Todd’s observation he tries to find another word to describe it. Earlier he’d thought that Todd smelled like flying feels, and he stands by that particular stance. It’s a freedom and a power and a joy that he’s never experienced anywhere else except in the sky and with Todd. Other lovers may have had a part of it, but none have been able to offer him both the freedom to be comfortable in himself and trust himself to the other, and also the power of being the one who is trusted to bring pleasure without causing harm, and through bringing joy to his partner feel it himself.

He can feel that Todd is getting closer, and he lightly scrapes his almost claw-like nails against Todd’s balls, making him twitch and then moan when John holds them between two fingers and passes a current through them. Todd’s cock is standing up red and weeping and desperate and John looks at it with some envy. He really loves going down on Todd, and if Todd doesn’t trust himself to do it with this mouth then John certainly doesn’t. John leans in and breathes on the sensitive skin, causing Todd to shudder against him. Grinning, John darts out his tongue to lick the tip, and Todd yelps, trying to sit up and see what John is doing.

“Sheppard,” he rasps. “ _Please_.”

John hums, feeling mischievous. He inserts his index finger back in Todd’s rectum, seeing how far in he can reach, while using his thumb to press the sensitive skin of his scrotum up against the base of his cock, passing the current through Todd’s body again, almost directly from prostate to balls.

Todd’s moan is almost a scream, a high desperate sound. John licks the end of his cock like a lollipop and Todd writhes under him, trying to arch into the touch and also push himself into the pulsing warmth radiating through him.

John feels Todd’s climax building, but it’s a surprise when he comes, a sudden jerking climax that sprays spunk over his chest and stomach in continuing spurts. John massages his prostate with more, softer, electrical pulses, milking him dry, before “turning off” the electrical show and licking the spunk from Todd’s body.

Still sensitive from the force of his climax, Todd twitches away from John’s insistent tongue, but familiar with being on the other side of moments like this many times, John doesn’t let up until he’s licked Todd clean. The flavor of his own spunk and skin is surprisingly not something John would call tasty in his current form, but it fills his mouth with such a pleasant sensation. It reminds him of eating cotton candy as a child- something that would fill his mouth with the feeling of eating but give little in the way of chewing or substance. It’s not a real comparison, but it feels the same; a good “taste” that’s more of an emotional sensation than a real taste.

When he’s done he looks down at Todd, who is laying back against the bed looking up at him with a warm and sated expression.

John feels accomplished, that he’s taken Todd’s mind entirely off their situation, and he starts purring deep in his throat in recognition.

Todd sighs and leans into him, wrapping his arm around John’s torso. He dozes, and falls asleep, and Jon leans over him protectively before he too feels his connection to the conscious world fading.

* * *

A beeping sound wakes John up and he flails around on his bedside table, looking for his earpiece. Everything looks weird and for a moment he doesn’t remember why.

But his fingers are human. He touches his face, and he can feel the stubble covering his cheeks.

He can feel there’s a body lying all along his, but he has to make sure, so he turns and shakes Todd, calling, “Hey, Todd.”

Todd comes awake slowly, like he’d been having a good dream he doesn’t want to leave, and he glares up at John with one sleepy eye before he remembers. Both eyes open wide as he sits up, left hand cupping John’s face. “Sheppard.”

John shivers. He leans forward, resting his forehead on Todd’s collarbone. He’s happy but he also feels kind of bereft. He had been so close to Todd, had understood him so much better, in the past few hours. But it’s gone now, and he wonders if he’ll forget what it felt like to see the world through Todd’s eyes. John’s not really a talker but this feels like something they should really talk about.

His communicator won’t stop beeping and he finally turns back to it, demanding, “What?”

“It’s been twenty-four hours and I haven't heard from you.” Rodney says. “Are you… How are you?”

“Fine,” John grunts, but sighs. “We’re back to normal.”

“Excellent! Because I think Woolsey really needs you to explain to the SGC why this device is something that they shouldn’t be whisking back to Earth to ‘study’.” The air quotes around the word _study_ are so heavy they have a physical presence, and John almost rolls his eyes.

Todd bares his teeth to the root and looks at John sharply.

Honestly, John has to agree, but he needs to shave and he smells like sex. “How long can you stall them?”

Rodney scoffs. “Are you kidding? I ‘lost’ the device the minute they showed up looking for it, but they can’t fire the genius so Woolsey’s getting all the heat. This is just a courtesy call.”

John rubs his face. “I need to talk to Todd. Give me half an hour.”

He turns off the communicator and tosses it back on the table.

“So.” John rubs the back of his head. He looks at Todd sidelong. “That happened.”

Todd smiles, and he lifts John’s face to his and kisses him lightly before rubbing his face against John’s and then tucking it under John’s chin. He grumbles softly at the rough stubble but is mostly humming. John’s kind of excited that, while he’s always known the humming is a good thing, a part of him now recognizes exactly how happy Todd is, and he feels a thrill of warmth that he’s retained what he learned during their swap. “Though unexpected, I enjoyed the sojourn,” Todd says, and he sounds a little surprised by himself. “You are… more different than I had thought,” he observes. “I understand better some of your more maddening qualities.”

John rolls his eyes. “Thanks,” he mutters, but he reaches to rub his fingers over Todd’s back and says, “The same back at you.” He kisses slowly up the curve of Todd’s ear.

Todd purrs; his face is pressed against John’s neck and the feel of it rumbles through John.

John sighs. “I need to shower if I’m going to distract the SGC from Woolsey.”

Tod leans back. “Yes. And I should do the same before I go and liberate the device from Doctor McKay’s laboratory.”

John raises an eyebrow.

“Your people cannot be allowed to take it away. While the use of it could lead to the discovery of valuable information, I find it most likely that any experimentation with it will negatively impact myself.” He draws himself up and looks at John.

“That’s not going to happen,” John affirms. “You go steal it from Rodney, or better yet Rodney should get it transferred to a remote storage lab that randomly gets set on fire, and it gets reported destroyed. Then the only people ‘experimenting’ with it are people that I trust.”

Todd gives him a look.

"You know, if that's okay with you. Since you're going to be, you know, _affected_ by it. Most likely." John clears his throat.

Todd grins.

**Author's Note:**

>   * The idea for this story came from my discovery of the fact that [bees can sense the electrical fields of flowers](https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/phenomena/2013/02/21/bees-can-sense-the-electric-fields-of-flowers/#close), and that [oriental hornets](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oriental_hornet) can absorb sunlight and convert it to electricity, which two ideas I combined into Wraith being able to sense, generate, and control electrical fields.
>   * I have no practical experience with e-stim and can only hope my online research provided sufficient grounding for this entirely made up scenario.
> 



End file.
